HOW MUSIC INTEGRATES WITH THE HEART AND HUMAN CONDITION

"All aspects of the human condition are somehow related to politics" says Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition (published 1958). That's why it is, or should be, impossible to remain silent or neutral in the face of injustice, horror, and evil at the personal, community, national, or world level.

I wonder if all aspects of the human condition are also somehow related to music? That strikes me as accurate, because of two very recent events.

HOW MILITARY MUSIC RELATES TO LIFE AND DEATH

This morning I was watching news on French24, the TV station I most trust now that I have abandoned mainstream US media which, since November 6, has abandoned independence characterized by facts and fairness in coverage. Most mornings I watch either France24 or DW (German TV).

This morning France24 featured a report called "Life in Ukraine's Military Band". It was a heart-rending and uplifting report involving music. I was amazed to find a Wikipedia page with comprehensive information on this band and many other military bands. The various bands are coordinated in the Military Music Department of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It is clear that music plays a central role in the Ukrainian culture and military.

The news report covered one military band of some ten to twenty musicians whose members, dressed in fatigues, play appropriate funeral music inside and outside of churches and at burials in Ukraine. Sometimes these events amount to three a day. Of course, since the Russian invasion the band plays regularly. If it is a colleague who has died, the musician pays a heavy price to hold it together emotionally, said one musician.

Sometimes within hours of playing at a funeral the band is also scheduled to change uniforms to a glamorous military one replete with medals and gold braid epaulets, then play a rousing concert at a shopping mall. The goal is to inspire national courage and resoluteness in the passersby and to solicit donations for the dire and courageous Ukrainian military efforts.

If you are as impressed as I was to learn of this music initiative, you might want to send an email as I did, to the office overseeing the many bands: mil_doc@post.mil.gov.ua My letter is below.*

The program this morning reminded me of something important.

Life is a two-sided coin of joy and heart break, life and death. They are really one and the same.

Some days the two extremes get all mixed up in both my practical and emotional life, and apparently the same happens for a lot of my friends. I transverse many high hills and deep valleys in hours or even seconds if I dare to watch just a few minutes of the dismal political and economic news in this country and in others around the world. Since the US election, distress visits many of my friends and me and we take it to bed; often my sleep is disturbed and I wake at one to three am and cannot go back to sleep.

In this sensitive France24 report about Ukraine's military band, it was made clear how integral music is to the human condition.

The band provides comfort, solace, and a tie of all hurting human hearts together during dire times of loss. Sharing or just being present at personal, community, and human grief at loss can be helpful to lift our hearts off the ground and raise our heads up from the floor. Applying the philosophy of Katie Lousie Cooper, a doula (see below) as she expressed so eloquently: music can "help individuals and families navigate their relationship with transience and loss...In art, we witness creators transforming personal experience into universal dialogue."

In that sense, this band is an integral part of the human condition.

HOW ANY MUSIC RELATES TO THE PROCESS OF DYING

The France24 report was portended last night by a program I attended at my nearby Glen Park local branch of the SF Public Library. I've written before about the kindness and perspicacity of our branch manager, Darren Heiber, to choose artful, practical, soulful, and gratefully free, programs, some of which have been particularly relevant to me. Unsuspectingly, the program I attended last night had something to do with music, although that was not clear from the subject matter.

This program featured Ian Sherbin, Elder Family Coach and Adviser. His is a consulting service to identify and vet various individuals and groups within the Bay Area and then help clients sort through options and resources to help with the aging and dying process. He also wants to demystify and calm the public and personal discourse around death and dying.

The topics with which he is familiar include financial and legal planning, housing transitions, medical needs, and social support. His clients could be dealing with the aging of parents or friends, or be single individuals planning for their own aging and dying process. The program is described further below, because my topic in this blog is music.**

One of the speakers was Dori Sappo, RN, BSN, a hospice specialist and End-of-Life Doula. Her service is called "Heart Bridge" and she and her associates are described as "End-of-Life Care Partners." One of her networked team members is Katie Cooper, mentioned above, and her website statement about the role of the death doula is instructive and worth reading.

Because the need is great in an aging US population that is filled with dread in discussing death and preparing for a good and peaceful death,*** Dori and her networked partners sponsor training in this aspect of life. Her class is for those desiring to enter this area of service as a volunteer or professional at the bedside, or for those of us who have a keen interest in demystifying and de-anxietizing the process of dying for ourselves or for our loved ones.****

After the presentation I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Ian, Dori, and her partner, Denise Campbell, LVN, who is also an End-of-Life doula. Denise happened to mention a type of service that she can provide like the one she recently implemented for a dying client, who desired to have a harp playing at her death.

I immediately thought of....GROUPMUSE!

And of course, I thought of Amy Ahn, the gracious, gentle harpist who presented a GROUPMUSE concert in the very same location of the Glen Park branch library last June. As a GROUPMUSE volunteer doing my best to promote wider participation in this marvelous, unique small-venue concert initiative of a group of local musicians, I now intend to see if there is natural networking that can be done to assist End-of-Life doulas.

I've already identified the specific musical pieces I would like played for me during my life-exiting process. It's listed on one page for my partner or any doula I eventually choose to consult and help implement it for me, and it's filed in my Will File.

My post-retirement re-connection with music is strong as I go through my remaining life and death. As I move more into the process of identifying and selecting resources to expand my spirit and enhance present joy during and out beyond this last part of my life, I know I'm involved in an important process of the heart.

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*Email: For the Head of the Military Music Department: mil_doc@post.mil.gov.ua

Sir: You might be interested in a blog I uploaded yesterday on my personal music and poetry website, after seeing the France24 coverage of the band that plays at your soldiers' funerals. I am an 81-year old feminist-humanist who fell deeply in love with music in 2020 and am now studying piano. Music unites the world, and all hearts. I am with you in this initiative, and with Ukraine. Do NOT give in to the vile Trump or Putin. Do NOT despair. Do what is right for your people whom half the country here supports, and I support wholeheartedly. In unity, Ann Grogan, San Francisco, CA

**The program at our Glen Park local branch of the SF Public Libraries was named 'Navigating Aging and End of Life." There will be other related programs dealing with different aspects held the rest of the year in the branch public libraries in the City. Two of the individuals within Ian's Sherbin's network of resources also spoke. One was a representative of Home Health agencies and resources, and the other was a death doula nurse who assists to ensure comfort, the reduction of anxiety, and a calm spirit during the actual dying process when medicine can no longer help.

It was a sensitive, instructive, and clear program, boiled down in Ian's inimitable way to three categories of services and why we should be considering them and planning for the future process of dying, well before reaching old age. He prefers to work with people in their 40s, but said that he rarely finds the willpower to confront the issues by those in that age category. His personal experience with the death of his mom, dad, and a sister led him to this new career, because he had to figure it all out for himself a few years ago. He wants to help others avoid his confusion and lack of knowledge about resources or how to discuss the topic with the dying family member.

Ian's prior 20-year career in the tech world clearly gives him skills to cut through the chaff and get to the wheat of what we need to know about this time of life that we all will experience sooner or later.

***Recently a friend commented that I have been writing some poems and essays mentioning the topic of death. I wondered why it is noteworthy that I am doing so, and if it created unease for my friend? It is only by openly discussing the topic and admitting to our initial unfamiliarity with the language of death and dying and the resources available to us, that we can demystify the process, find support, and uncover the precious gems contained therein.

****Some may be familiar with doulas for pregnant moms in the process of child birth. I had heard of this role for the dying person, but had not one clue what it entailed or how one would find and work with such a doula. Now I know.

Dori explained how she transitioned from strict medical nursing into this more spiritual, wholistic approach to the latter part of life, and how she works with her clients. Now it makes a lot of sense to know about and connect with such a person when the time comes that medicine is no longer helpful.

Sadly the doula service is not supported by major HMOs like mine which is Kaiser, thus the expense is a personal one. I intend to make my voice heard at Kaiser. There is a professional doula association that has set standards and best practices. Those committed to the benefits of this service, like Dori and her partner Denise Campbell, LVN, are advancing education and networking in the Bay Area and nationally as well. They also work with and support hospice nurses and doctors from HMOs or for-profit and non-profit private businesses. Hospice is a cost covered by Medicaid when a diagnoses is reached that death is imminent within about six months. Doulas can often provide more on-site, immediate, comforting presence than can a medically-trained person or hospice nurse who is devoted only to "curing" or "treating" a person or who has limited time to spend with those who are dying.

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